Gearbox Studios Have Worked On Early Concepts for New Duke Nukem Game

According to IGN, CEO of Gearbox Studios, Randy Pitchford, has begun early concept work for a new Duke Nukem game. Pitchford spoke at an opening keynote for Develop: Brighton, and went on to reveal his intentions for the future of the series.

“I did not acquire the franchise merely so we could all experience Duke Nukem Forever. That was the toll to pay to give Duke a chance. That said, I liked that game. We’ve done some concept development [for a new game] and I think the challenges are there. Gearbox is very busy. I think the faster way is that a correct developer can become interested and we can work with them. I think it’s a challenging problem. But, I’ll tell you one thing. When it does happen, there’s no doubt that the whole industry will turn its head and look.”

Pitchford went on to talk about the difficulties of expectations from a series that was long dormant:

“Getting attention is one of the hardest things to do. In fact, that’s probably the biggest challenge that [Duke Nukem] Forever had. For 10 years, these guys promised that it was going to be the greatest game ever right? It was legendary in its vapourware status. So it has this particular pole of attention that makes it probably three or four times more famous than Borderlands as a franchise. Not necessarily from a gamer’s [perspective] that are really clued in to what’s going on in game development in the industry, but certainly among the greater whole community.”

The last entry in the franchise, Duke Nukem Forever, was released back in 2011 after a hefty 15 year development cycle, and was met with lukewarm responses from critics and gamers in the community.